Chapter 16: Realizing Too Late
Two Ghost Infants attacked ordinary people with all their might.
But when it came to Jiang Ce, he simply opened the door, took a look, and was about to leave.
If they had enough intelligence, perhaps between entering and preparing to leave, they would have squinted their eyes, realized things were not simple, and then said, “Oh my god!”
In their eyes, Jiang Ce, who was cultivating, was no different from the superiors that ghosts and monsters had engraved into their bloodline memories.
Just like the law of survival in the jungle, animals instinctively avoid natural enemies and top predators.
Before Jiang Ce could discover them, the two Ghost Infants turned around simultaneously as if they were one person and prepared to flee, without even needing to communicate.
But at that moment, the room door suddenly closed.
A Ghost Face appeared by the door at some unknown time, hovering in the air and staring menacingly at the two Ghost Infants.
“Delicious. Eat them all.”
The faces of the two Ghost Infants remained expressionless, but their bodies trembled as if they were sifting chaff.
As fellow ghosts and monsters, although they still couldn’t discern the Ghost Face’s true nature, the Ghost Infants could clearly feel that the Ghost Face was not as dangerous as Jiang Ce, who was cultivating.
In the eyes of the Ghost Infants, Jiang Ce at this moment was like the most terrifying legend, while the Ghost Face, though terrifying, was still not even a fraction of Jiang Ce’s power.
But precisely because of this, they feared the Ghost Face even more than Jiang Ce.
There was only one reason: a dragon in the sky would not spare a second glance at an ant on the ground, but an anteater would eat ants.
The blood curse on his forehead flared with a bright red light, and the two Ghost Infants wanted to fight the Ghost Face to the death, seeking an opportunity to escape.
They shot towards the Ghost Face like two white lightning bolts, striking it squarely.
Their own Yin evil power and the Old Man’s curse power also genuinely acted upon the Ghost Face.
But to their despair, this almost full-power strike not only did not harm the Ghost Face in the slightest, but it didn’t even stir up any dust or leave any sound.
It was as if they had vanished into thin air, all swallowed by the Ghost Face.
The Yin evil, the curse, and even the two Ghost Infants themselves were consumed by the Ghost Face like moths to a flame.
“Delicious.”
The green dots in the Ghost Face’s eye sockets sparkled, truly resembling the highlights in the eyes of a two-dimensional girl when she’s satisfied.
It returned to the Bronze Statue with satisfaction, and soon, pearl-like black light spots began to appear on the top of the Bronze Statue.
At the same moment, the thin and short old man suddenly sensed that he had lost contact with the blood curse, and his face instantly turned ashen.
“Those were Ghost Infants that even low-level Jianghu Magicians find difficult to deal with! How could they not deal with an ordinary person?!”
He had a grim expression. He gritted his teeth that the Ghost Infants, which he had barely warmed up in his hands, were wiped out. However, the existence that wiped them out also made him extremely wary, as the Ghost Infants were considered cultivators of the same level as him.
After a long while, he showed a fierce look and attributed all the blame to an unremarkable ordinary person:
“No matter who is behind you, wait a while longer. When my Yin Slaves return from their hunt, I will surely reach Eighth Rank. Coupled with my Ninth Rank, as long as the Gatekeeper doesn’t intervene, I’ll be unstoppable in Luocheng! By then, no one will be able to protect you!”
After another half-hour, Jiang Ce finished his Visualization.
As he opened his eyes, the black mist around him silently merged into his body, and the Evil God’s projection gradually faded and disappeared.
Therefore, he did not notice anything unusual, only feeling a slight regret.
Because he had a vague premonition that he had gained a lot this time and had reached the threshold of an Eighth Rank Jianghu Magician, only one step away from Seventh Rank.
However, the Mental Energy consumed by Visualization was also increasing crazily. Jiang Ce had a premonition that if he didn’t stop, the previous situation might happen again.
Reluctantly, Jiang Ce had to stop his Visualization.
He recalled meditating under the supervision of the Old Abbot when he was a child. From struggling to concentrate after a few minutes due to distracting thoughts to being able to meditate for an entire day without any distractions, it took Jiang Ce several years.
Before leaving the temple, Jiang Ce could even maintain this state for several days without eating or drinking, thus achieving the effect of abstaining from grains.
Yet, this level of Mental Energy could only sustain about an hour of Visualization, which illustrated how terrifying the Mental Energy consumed by cultivation was.
Mental Energy is different from Physical Energy; it cannot be simply compensated by rest. Mental Energy needs to be nurtured.
When Physical Energy is insufficient, a person only feels tired, but if Mental Energy is insufficient, even with adequate rest, the person will still experience symptoms such as inability to concentrate, headaches, slow reactions, and even hallucinations.
Jiang Ce rubbed his slightly throbbing head, knowing that he could not meditate again in a short time.
Based on past experience, it takes at least a week of meditating and cultivating to recover to peak condition.
This is thanks to twenty years of Buddhist cultivation; for an ordinary person, the after-effects of insufficient mental energy might take months to recover, no different from recovering from a severe bone injury.
“What a shame, just a tiny bit short.”
Jiang Ce complained to the Kou Liu Buddha in front of him, “What’s wrong with you? Aren’t you going to bless your devout follower? Don’t you know that Cun Zhi is enjoyment for some, but torture for most people?”
However, after a pause, he seemed to remember something and apologized as if he had a split personality:
“Amitabha, I apologize, Buddha. I was not in my right mind just now. Please do not smite me with divine punishment. A child spoke out of turn as a joke.”
After speaking, he kowtowed again before patting his chest and sighing in relief.
Cultivation is real, so perhaps the Buddha is also real. If the Buddha is petty and holds it against me, that would be a big problem. I should still be subservient when necessary.
Jiang Ce stood up, intending to test the difference between Eighth Rank and Ninth Rank.
But with an unintentional glance, he discovered something was amiss.
The door seemed to have been opened by someone, and in their lack of refinement, they had trapped a fallen piece of paper under the door when closing it.
“This is.”
Jiang Ce pulled out the paper and examined it seriously: “National Air Drop, Price Negotiable?”
“What kind of nonsense.”
Jiang Ce hadn’t finished speaking when he remembered that this was a flyer he had picked up by the roadside. At the time, he’d had a wicked thought and inexplicably brought it back. Fortunately, after exercising self-control, he had become detached and put it on the shoe cabinet, where it had sat for months, even gathering dust.
Awkwardly, Jiang Ce was about to stuff the flyer back into the corner when he noticed something strange about the bronze statue he had casually placed on the shoe cabinet after entering.
The Power of Lack of Merit was pooling at the top of the bronze statue, almost overflowing, causing Jiang Ce to frown and murmur:
“So lewd.”
He reached out to pick up the bronze statue for a closer look, but as soon as his hand approached, the Power of Lack of Merit clung to it like iron filings to a magnet.
Having experienced this once, Jiang Ce was not worried and let it enter his body.
However, the Power of Lack of Merit at the top of the bronze statue was merely the tip of the iceberg. As the overflowing portion was absorbed, all the black light from within the statue erupted, and Jiang Ce absorbed it all.
After absorbing this power, Jiang Ce was pleasantly surprised to find that the stagnation he had felt, just short of promotion, seemed unable to withstand the impact and destruction of this power, and was broken through. This was followed by a feeling of fullness throughout his body.
In an instant, Jiang Ce felt as if he had received timely rain after a long drought, filled with satisfaction.
Jianghu Magician, Seventh Rank!
At the same time, Jiang Ce’s senses became several times sharper, and he suddenly noticed a red mark left in the corner of the entryway.
“This is.”
It was a peculiar character that Jiang Ce had never seen in any Buddhist classics. Yet, for some reason, perhaps due to the natural repulsion to evil things brought about by his Buddhist cultivation, just one glance was enough for Jiang Ce to determine it was not something good.
He pursed his lips and slowly looked at the flyer, then at the bronze statue that had inexplicably produced a large amount of Power of Lack of Merit.
At this moment, he was absolutely certain that something had indeed entered just now, but it had been absorbed by the ghost face within the bronze statue.
It seemed someone or something was not very friendly towards him.
After much thought, Jiang Ce couldn’t figure out who he had offended.
If he couldn’t figure it out, he decided not to think about it. Since their attempt failed this time, they would surely act again, and then he would see what was going on.
However, Jiang Ce remained vigilant. Although the bronze statue he had defeated in one move seemed harmless, he had too little information now and could easily be caught off guard at any moment.
If it hadn’t been for the bronze statue this time, he, unprepared during his cultivation, would likely have been in trouble.
This incident served as a wake-up call, prompting him to reflect: “It seems the world of cultivators is full of danger, and my mentality should not remain the same as before. I must make corresponding changes and ensure my safety at all times from now on.”
He rubbed the bronze statue, finding the ugly beast head more and more pleasing to his eye. “I’ll give you a big credit this time, okay? How about this, I’ll give you a name. You look like a divine beast from the Shan Hai Jing, you like two-dimensional things so much, you’re good at bullying the weak and infirm, and your voice is really strange. I’ll call you… Aatrox from now on.”
“It’s decided then. Your full name will be Aatrox, and your nickname will be Sword Demon!”
